The older of the two peers underneath Harper’s arm and lays eyes on me.
“Mom said we were supposed to say we were coming to help you move…but really we wanted to meet your new boyfriend.” She stops, tugging on Harper’s sleeve, rising on tiptoes to whisper a not-so-quietly worded question. “Is this him?”
Harper tries to hide her grin by tugging the corner of her lip between her teeth as she swings around. “This is Marek Talbert…he’s my friend and also the general manager of the Puget Sound Pilots.”
“That’s cool—”
“He flies planes?” asks the younger one simultaneously and I can’t help but bust out in laughter.
I rise to my knees, because otherwise I’d tower over them and probably frighten them with my height, and waddle over to make my introductions.
“Hello there, you two. It’s very nice to meet you. Now, which one of you is Snickers and who is Skittles?”
The girls hoot in laughter at my lame attempt to be funny.
“That’s not our names. Those are candy!”
“Yeah, you’re silly, mister,” says the smaller one of the two. “My name is Hazel. And my big sister is Holly. And our mom is Hannah. And she’s not feeling good today. Theradar-ation is making her tired.”
My smile suddenly wilts as I look from the cute angelic girl into Harper’s face. Her eyes close and she drops her chin just as her sister walks in.
“My goodness, I can’t keep up with these girls…they’re fa—” Harper’s sister’s voice trails off as her gaze drops on the looks on each of our faces.
I slowly stand to full height, running my palms down the front of my thighs before extending a hand to introduce myself. “You must be Hannah. I’m Marek Talbert. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I hold back what I really want to say, which would have been directed toward Harper. It’s not fair to take it out on Hannah when it’s Harper who kept me in the dark about what’s been going on with her sister.
A noticeable flush runs up Hannah’s neck and colors her very pale cheeks, but her smile is warm and bright. She takes my hand to shake it and the fragility of her bones startles me. Her skin is paper-thin and she’s skin and bones.
“Hi, Marek. Nice to meet you. Wow, it’s not often we have a Seattle celebrity in our midst,” she offers, dropping my hand and placing hers on Hazel’s head. “I hope they didn’t say anything to embarrass you.”
Her head swings to Harper. “Or you either.”
I wave her off. “Not at all. Snickers and Skittles were just telling me how they came over to help their Auntie Harper pack.”
The girls giggle again. Little Hazel wraps her arms around her mom’s leg. Holly is enveloped by Harper’s arm, curled into her side. It’s clear that they are going to miss Harper when she moves away. They are all obviously incredibly close, which gives me pause as to why Harper hasn’t mentioned anything about her sister.
While I don’t often interpret little girl language, I understood her word to mean radiation, which means Hannah must be going through some form of cancer treatment.
Yet Harper never mentioned a thing to me. To my recollection, she’s never so much as dropped a hint about her sister’s treatment. Nothing at all during any of our long interview sessions, off-the-record conversations where we got to know one another personally, or in the intimacy of the bedroom.
The only thing I was aware about was that initial week when I asked her to start, and she had to postpone due to an obligation back home. Was this that family obligation?
If she hasn’t shared something like this with me yet, I wonder if I’ve ever met the real Harper Conrad. Has she just given me what I wanted to see? What else is she hiding?
A seed of distrust begins to grow in my gut. Has this always been about the job and her exclusive inside interview?
Have I been conned into giving her what she wanted?
Used for an inside scoop?
How far has she been willing to go to get it?
And now that she’s gotten her job and the interview, is she going to pivot and run?